A SHORT HISTORY OF THE DANUBE SWABIANS.
A different version of the arrival of the Danube Swabians in the Banat. Oil painting by Stefan Jaeger.
| The Danube Swabians are German colonists who were invited by Austrian-Hungarian Emperors to settle and repopulate the land after the Ottoman Empire was defeated by allied forces led by Prince Eugene of Savoy. There were three Great Swabian Migrations. These settlers were called German-Hungarians at first. After World War I, when the area was divided between Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia, the German population became known as Danube Swabians. This name was derived from the Danube river, where they lived now and Swabia, a province in Germany, where many of the settlers came from, originally. Others came from all over Europe, even Italy and France. Most of them lived in all German towns. They were hard workers who did what was asked of them. They stabilized the area, prospered and supported the various governments, but were envied by the other nationalities. Many of them came to the United States before and after World War I and then World War II. Just like in the Old Country, they prospered here, too. Most of them came in the early 1950’s, served in the Armed Forces and became good and loyal citizens of the USA. |